The holidays are getting a fabulous glow-up this year thanks to our friends at Shatter The Glass Productions! On December 2nd, they’ll take the stage at Caveat NYC (and livestream worldwide!) with Make the Yuletide Gay—a dazzling, heart-filled holiday cabaret that celebrates queer joy, music, and community.
Shatter the Glass Productions has been an incredible partner to Point of Pride throughout the year, helping raise over $5,000 in support of trans and gender-diverse people accessing life-saving gender-affirming care. STG’s work has included Point of Pride: A Cabaret Fundraiser, Point of Pride: Another Cabaret Fundraiser, and The Music of VeggieTales. Coming up this year, they’ll present Transpositions: A Debut & Revue and the festive Make The Yuletide Gay: A Point of Pride Cabaret Fundraiser. (All cabarets are ASL interpreted.)
Founded by Adriana Nocco & Emily Whalen, Shatter The Glass Productions (STG) was started to create inclusive, accessible, and community-driven performances that center women, BIPOC, queer and trans artists. Their mission is to make the performing arts more equitable and accessible while showcasing the power of authentic, unapologetic stories.
This year’s Make the Yuletide Gay show brings together drag artists, singers, dancers, comedians, and performers from across the LGBTQ+ community and our allies—all uniting for one night (and one livestream!) of laughter, music, and meaning.
We connected with Adriana and Emily to talk about their work, the power of performance, and what it means to give back during the holidays.
ADRIANA: The inception of Shatter The Glass Productions and our connection with Point of Pride are actually foundationally interconnected.
In early 2025, just five days after Trump’s inauguration, I saw Cabaret at the Kit Kat Klub on Broadway, and kept thinking about the quote often attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” Around that time, I was having honest conversations with my trans and nonbinary friends, many of whom were feeling especially unsafe. As a cis white woman with privilege, I knew I had a responsibility to act.
I began researching organizations that provide direct support to trans people, and Point of Pride immediately stood out. Their work to empower trans and gender-diverse individuals to fully embody their authentic selves resonated deeply. I asked myself: How can I use my skills, community, and resources to make a meaningful impact? That’s when the idea for a cabaret fundraiser emerged—joyful, defiant, celebratory, and with all proceeds going to Point of Pride.
I floated the idea on Instagram, asking for volunteers and venue suggestions. The response was overwhelming, and I was soon connected with an event coordinator at The Stonewall Inn—the perfect venue for the event, especially after the recent removal of the “T” from the Stonewall National Monument page. My friend Emily J. Whalen also reached out to express interest in associate-producing the event alongside me, and together, we shaped the show around our core values: inclusivity, authenticity, joy, and the disruption of outdated norms.
I reached out to Point of Pride via their website to let them know what we were planning. Shortly after, we received personal emails from Point of Pride co-founders', Jeff and Aydian. This resulted in a series of Zoom meetings with them (a series of meetings that is still ongoing to this day!) as we began building a relationship that felt aligned, collaborative, and intentional.
The inaugural Point of Pride Cabaret Fundraiser took place on March 25, 2025, the week before Trans Day of Visibility. Emily and I exceeded our initial fundraising goal by nearly $1,000, ultimately raising $2,700—enough to fund over a year of HRT for at least one trans person. And because everyone involved donated their time and talents, it truly became a community effort, proving that when you center empathy, authenticity, and intention, the right people show up.
That first ripple became a tidal wave. Our collaboration with Jeff and Aydian has now grown into an ongoing partnership, and together we’ve officially established what is now Shatter The Glass’s ongoing Point of Pride Cabaret Fundraiser Series, in association with Point of Pride. The Stonewall Cabaret Fundraiser also laid the foundation for Shatter The Glass Productions itself. Following the success of our first ever joint event (and first time producing together!), Emily and I decided to forge a co-producing partnership, and co-founded STG together. As STG’s co-leaders, we continue to fundraise for Point of Pride as well as to produce creative works with a mission: to amplify underrepresented voices, combat gatekeeping, challenge the status quo, and bring people together through the transformative power of performance.
Also, funnily enough, I’m now co-producing Transpositions: A Debut and Revue (December 28th at 5 PM at Caveat) with STG guest producer Kaden Potak, who I first met when they volunteered to perform in our first two Point of Pride Cabaret Fundraisers. Transpositions will feature trans and gender-diverse performers revisiting roles they played pre-transition and debuting their post-transition dream roles. Kaden received their first chest binder from Point of Pride, so it was through their personal connection to Point of Pride that we initially connected. It’s a beautiful illustration of how theatre, in partnership with organizations like Point of Pride, can foster community, build meaningful connections, and bring people together in powerful ways.
EMILY: After working with Point of Pride for almost a year, it’s become increasingly clear that the people who are supposed to be taking care of trans and nonbinary folks (especially trans youth, and people who are newly out) aren’t doing so. Point of Pride is an example of an organization that’s stepping up to fill that gap, directly supplying people with the gender-affirming care they need. So, until it’s as easy to obtain gender-affirming care as it is to access other forms of medical treatment, we will continue to support Point of Pride and the work they do.
ADRIANA: STG’s three core principles are Access, Community, & Equity. We strive for accessibility in everything we do (and ensure that all STG events are ASL-interpreted for this reason) because art and storytelling should not be limited by geography, mobility, or circumstance. By offering both in-person and livestreamed options, we ensure that people from anywhere can participate, engage, and feel seen and connected to the message and community that we are building. Accessibility allows us to extend our community beyond physical walls, invite as many diverse perspectives as possible, and ensure that everyone, regardless of location, ability, or resources, can experience the joy, power, and transformative potential of theatre.
ADRIANA: Make The Yuletide Gay will be the first-ever Shatter The Glass cabaret to feature a full mix of variety acts—drag performers, ballet and burlesque dancers, comedians, and even a ukulele player—as well as vocalists! The show (the title says it all) puts a festive, queer twist on holiday classics—think Mariah and Madonna under the mistletoe, sapphic sleigh bells, and all sorts of campy, magical fun in between. Our fabulous drag queen co-hosts, Anne Tifah (who ASL-interpreted for our first Point of Pride Cabaret Fundraiser and performed in the second) and Soraya Sis, along with our phenomenal cast, have a few surprise tricks up their sleeves that you’ll have to see for yourselves. Expect glitter, holiday camp, queer joy, and playful subversion—a holiGAY extravaganza that’s as cheeky (literally) and bold as it is celebratory!
EMILY: When we started casting the first Point of Pride Cabaret, it was super important to us to include trans and nonbinary performers as well as cis allies. Especially since we’re asking folks to donate their time to the cause, it’s essential that cis folks step up and volunteer their talents in the same way that we’re asking trans performers to do so. Therefore, we’ve created some beautiful collaborations between performers of all genders, sexual identities, and backgrounds. I hope that shows onstage: all different communities represented, all working together to put on a good show and to raise money for this wonderful organization.
ADRIANA: STG also hopes to provide a platform through which our audiences get to see performers defying binaries and pigeonholing, claiming the spotlight as their authentic, unapologetic selves.
EMILY: I’m gonna cheat and give several answers, because there are so many! One of the pitches we received for this show but weren’t able to fit into the set list was “I saw Mommy Kissing Mrs. Claus”…and honestly, someone needs to make that movie ASAP. “Slay Ride” is low-hanging fruit, but must be mentioned. And the pitch I’m probably saddest won’t be in the show is “Masc With A Bag,” which would be “Man With The Bag” rewritten so it’s not Santa Claus, but a masc lesbian pulling handy objects out of their pockets and off their carabiner.
Don’t miss Make the Yuletide Gay: A Point of Pride Cabaret Fundraiser—happening December 2nd live at Caveat NYC and streaming online.
📅 Date: December 2, 2025
📍 Location: Caveat NYC + Livestream
💖 Benefiting: Point of Pride
🎟️ Get your tickets IRL or Livestream access here!